Postcode decides whether women receive breast cancer drug Herceptin

A British woman is so desperate to be given access to the breast cancer drug Herceptin that she is prepared to protest at the government's Welsh assembly in the Welsh capital Cardiff.

Jayne Sullivan, a 45-year-old mother says she means to maintain her protest until what she describes as the Herceptin "postcode lottery" for women is over.

Sullivan plans to begin her Cardiff Bay demonstration on Wednesday, the day after she learns whether her oncologist will apply for the drug to treat her.

The Welsh Assembly has said commissioning the drug was up to local health authorities but have indicated that the drug is likely to be approved.

Ms Sullivan has a teenage son and daughter and has said she will continue her protest until the bureaucracy ends and the highly successful drug is available to all women who could benefit.

Barbara Clark, a 49-year-old from Somerset who took her fight to obtain the anti-cancer drug to the European Court of Human Rights, and who is now in remission from the disease, is supporting Sullivan in her protest.

Researchers in the US recently discovered the risk of tumours recurring with certain types of breast cancer can be cut by up to 50% if Herceptin is taken in the early stages of the disease.

Currently in the UK, the drug is usually only prescribed on the NHS to women with advanced breast cancer.

Ms Sullivan was diagnosed with three breast tumours in May 2005 and has the same type of cancer as Barbara Clark which responds so well to Herceptin.

She feels as her cancer has not progressed as far as Mrs Clark's, her need for the drug is even greater.

Sullivan joins a growing number of women across the UK who are lobbying for the treatment to be made available on the NHS.

The treatment costs as much as £30,000 for a year.

Cardiff, which is Sullivan local health board, has apparently agreed that patients who meet the criteria for Herceptin should be given the drug before it is officially licensed in the UK in March.

Ms Sullivan says she will continue her fight for the drug to be made available across Wales whether or not she herself is successful in getting the drug.